At the edge of Gohature is a small asteroid belt.  There's a space port of sorts there.  It's not as elaborate as the inner system ports.  But it's got a decent little shipyard.  And Rig knows a guy there.

Tia comes out of Jump, limping slightly.  There was a small problem:  one of the seals on the hull started to split from the hydrogen bubble.  Rig kept it together.  But that section of hull really needs to be replaced on the outside.  And that requires a ship yard.

Rig's buddy is Bilco Garag.  He's a foreman at the yard.  When Rig was in the merchant marines, Bilco was a subordinate.  Rig showed him the ropes.

The port is called Malk's.  Yeah. I don't get it either.  The old Solimanni term for it would 'a truck stop'.  But records show they make good tamales.  Apparently some of the asteroids have been zoned agriculture and they grow corn.  Huh.  Corn from an asteroid.  Who knew.

Anyway.  I would recommend stopping there.  We could make it to the inner systems.  But why take the risk?

Ledo gave a nod.

"Sounds fair. Also gives us an opportunity to offload some of this cargo we've picked up. Will they be able to accept bounties? We've got our friend in the popsicle who's going to be helping fund repairs."

It looks like the local law enforcement can bound any bounties for you.

'Bounding' is the bounty hunter version of pawning.  A hunter can turn over a prisoner to local law enforcement who will pay him close to the bounty price (have to make a little something for themselves).  It usually only works for low level bounties.  High bounties are out of most local law offices budgets.

The bounties picked up should be in the boundable range.

After checking the local law enforcement Ledo sets course for Malk's. There they can let their "passengers" out of cryo and turn over the popsicle they recovered from the asteroid over for the bounty.

After that it's trying to sell their cargo and get the ship repaired.

Bilco shows up not soon after Rig messages him he's on station.

"Riggy Baby!"  Bilco always talks like this.  "How's the man, the myth, the legend?  This your ship now?  Not a bad looker.

"Hey.  While they start the prelim, come on. Let's hit a brew."

---

There are a few attractions at Malk's.  A couple of bars.  An Astroburger.  There's always an Astroburger.  A strip club.  There's a little stand selling tamales with a line down the hallway.

But there's also a little amusement park.  It looks like it's got a couple of coasters, some game rooms, a putting range.

There's also an odd contraption none of the crew has ever seen before:  a large wheel like structure laying on it's side.  It's spinning slowly while faded tinny music plays and bright lights flash.  Between the sides of the wheel are poles and on the poles are set little statues of some kind of mammal.  They might be horses, but whether any of the crew has seen a horse in person before is debateable.

The horse-statue things rise and fall on their poles as the wheel spins.  A couple of people are sitting on some of the horse-statue things. Oh.  That's apparently the ride.  You sit on the horse-statue thing and they rise up and down while the wheel spins.

Huh.

Maybe it's one of those things you have to ride to get.

Tepha gasped when she saw the contraption.

”Oh! Oh! I’ve seen this before. On some of the old holos. It’s ah...ah...”

She snapped her fingers quickly trying to jolt the memory out of hiding.

”Oh yeah, it’s called a Fairest Wheel!”

Ledo looked on with skepticism.

”Fairest compared to what?”

”I i don’t know. Not anything I know of. It’s just what it’s called.”

”What’s it for?”

”For riding of course. And also I think they are supposed to break down trapping you so you have a romantic encounter in them.”

Ledo looked on with more confusion.

”How would you be trapped? Couldn’t you just walk off of it?”

Tepha considered the question and quickly dismissed it.

”Don’t be a killjoy. It doesn’t do anything, it’s just there for fun. Come on, let’s give it a try.”

Ledo had deep reservations about it all. It seemed to just be a waste of valuable space and a potential waste of time. He studied the four-legged mammals going up and down. They didn’t seem to be any unifying uniforms or equipment for them. Some had gold saddles, some had silver. Some where smiling while others looked to be running really fast. One of them was painted in black and white stripes for some reason.

”Really? After everything we’ve done, with everything we could do this is how you want to spend our time?”

She gave him a playful punch on the arm.

”Come on, Ledo. Live a little. What’s the point of traveling if we don’t indulge in the local customs? Listen, you made some money off that frozen guy, you made some money charging those pirates passage. Rig looted some cargo from the derelict and now the ship is in dry dock getting worked over. What is there to worry about? What is there to spend our time on?”

”How about finding a buyer for some of this cargo? And making arrangements to get some more. We ended up fleeing Jone with a nearly empty hold. We could have had so much more in there, at the very least made a chunk of money off of a mail run.”

”Well you can go about being an old man but I’m going to enjoy the Ferris wheel. Now you are welcome to join me watching me go up...and down or you can go off and do old man business that will get done when we finish. So what’s it going to be?”

Ledo gave an exasperated sigh. He could tell he wasn’t going to enjoy it. What was there to enjoy? And yet Tepha’s good mood was infections, like a case of Targillian pox. He knew he wouldn’t enjoy it, but he figured she would and through her he might have a good time. Besides, she had a point, what else was there to do?

”Well I suppose after everything that’s happened we deserve a little time alone, away from the others.”

Tepha didn’t even look surprised. She had a smile on her face that said she knew he was going to follow her no matter what objections he had raised. It was this brief smug smile that said Protest all you want but you’re ass is mine.

He held out his hand and she grabbed it in hers, jokingly dragging him towards the ticket booth to ride the “Fairest Wheel”.

The Park has a pricey entrance fee, but it includes all the rides as often as wanted, as well as two tickets for the 'fried dough' stand.  Games are 1 credit a throw.

Suprisingly, a few children are around, escorted by their mothers or fathers or center designated caregiver.  There are a few crew members around, mostly around the games.

The Fairest Wheel is turning.  There's a small line, but it's mostly little little kids and a couple of couples.  The attendant waves Tepha and Ledo through.  They find a pair of horses close together, one a stallion in what looks like a martial outfit. The other is a smiling pony with long eyelashes and a thick flowing mane.  The ride starts after a moment.

The easy up and down motion of the horses feels odd after all the time aboard Tia.  But it's at an easy pace and the cheap lights that flicker on and off actually have a soothing effect.  It's like a leisurely ride on a road with a planet that has pleasant scenery and a breathable atmo.

On the second rotation, they both notice that some of the riders ahead are reaching over towards the center of the wheel.  It seems there's a brass-colored synthetic plastic ring suspended from a string.  A sign seems to indicate that catching the ring will get a prize.

Make a roll if they go for it.  Athletics/Dex.

Did Rig got out for a drink?

And what's Silver up to?

Rig was in an awkward dilemma. With the ship being repaired it wouldn’t be very comfortable staying on board which mean he needed to find someplace else to be for the day. It had been awhile since he had grabbed a beer with anyone other than Ledo (or one prostitute that he would never speak about to anyone) so he figured now might be a good time to try his relaxation thing everyone was going on about.

”Bilco, hey! Long time no see. Yeah while the ship’s getting patched I’ve got nothing but time and drinks sounds great. I just need a time and a place.”

Rig was nervous about his downtime. He had been able to push aside his feelings with constant work but every time there was a quiet moment his mind went back to the sight of the drifting bodies in the storage room. The long haired woman drifting perfectly in the micro-gravity. It was like his mind was fixated on it like a broken programming loop. Maybe drinks and some pleasant reminising would exit that loop and he could bury those images in a deep dark hole inside his mind.